As blogs and celebrity testimonials have proliferated across the media landscape, so have efforts by businesses and manufacturers to gain positive mentions, reviews, and commentary on these seemingly grassroots sites. What ethical issues are raised if a blogger is paid to comment on a product

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Social Studies

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8 February, 00:21

As blogs and celebrity testimonials have proliferated across the media landscape, so have efforts by businesses and manufacturers to gain positive mentions, reviews, and commentary on these seemingly grassroots sites. What ethical issues are raised if a blogger is paid to comment on a product

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Abagail Foley · Answer 1

The most obvious issue is that a blogger who's paid to comment on a product can lose objectivity and give a biased review. What most bloggers and social media influencers do to counter this is to openly say if they were paid for their review, so that the audience knows that their opinion could be biased.

Another conflict is that people is that these sort of influencers have followers whose behavior could be influenced by their own. So a blogger might have to think about the consequences of their acts on a different level than a regular person. This is not only for ethical reasons, but because their followers are their source of income and they could lose them if they give a biased opinion or do something unethical.